Reddit reviews The Painted Bird

Absolutely it has to be The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski (1970). A Polish boy's experience during the Nazi occupation. Depraved, and then utterly depraved, even more so because there has been speculation that the novel is at least partially biographical. Kosinski would neither confirm nor deny that claim. After the book was published it created such controversy that the author had to leave Poland and was allegedly tracked down in New York by a government assassin, who failed to kill him. Still controversial in Poland.

This is tough, because everyone's definition of horror is different. But in terms of feeling like the narrator is also suffering along with you, here are a few I can think of where the worst monsters are human...

COWS by Matthew Stokoe. I had nightmares. I keep thinking about maybe rereading it and then I chicken out.

HAUNTED by Chuck Palahniuk, which has the added benefit of providing multiple writers/narrators who are all completely messed up!

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jack Ketchum, or really almost anything by him, but this one is based on a true story and is told from the perspective of a young man/boy who is profoundly uncomfortable with what he's witnessing.

THE PAINTED BIRD is an incredibly messed up but now debunked "true" wartime story by Jerzy Kosinski.

JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN by Dalton Trumbo is a very tough, claustrophobic, powerless experience.

• Invisible Man vs. Native Son; each takes a different approach to the same topic and time period
  
• Beowulf (any translation) vs. Grendel; alternate perspectives on the same event... for example, you could talk about how modern literature has ultimately become more character-centric and detailed rather than actions-based
  
• Following this train of thought, you could also do The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Wicked.
  
• Any two novels dealing with the Holocaust (e.g. Night and The Painted Bird)
  
• In Cold Blood and Devil in the White City; compare and contrast dramatic nonfiction execution
  
• Interview with the Vampire and Dracula; detail how portrayal of vampires parallels societal attitudes towards homosexuals and how vampire novels from different time periods deal with vampires differently; PM me if you'd like more info on this, as I'm currently taking a class on it. Alternatively, you could do Interview and then The Vampire Lestat, the next book in the Vampire Chronicles, and analyze how the vampire characters change after the post-AIDS crisis.
  
• I second the suggestion of The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises.
  
• Prozac Nation and The Bell Jar; two women of two different decades writing about their depression. Of course, The Bell Jar is fictional, but thought to be highly autobiographical.
  
  Please let us know which ones you end up doing!

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski
http://www.amazon.com/Painted-Bird-Jerzy-Kosinski/dp/080213422X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412441354&sr=1-1&keywords=the+painted+bird
OR
The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart

https://www.amazon.com/Painted-Bird-Jerzy-Kosinski/dp/080213422X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1491703459&sr=1-1&keywords=the+painted+bird